The protest has been moved from Raj Ghat in Delhi to Jantar Mantar due to “security restrictions”.
Chandigarh:
A day after President Ram Nath Kovind refused a meeting to discuss the new agricultural laws in Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and congressmen are likely to protest today at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
The site of the protest – which is basically against the suspension of freight trains to Punjab amid farmers’ agitation over the Center’s three newly passed agricultural laws – has been changed from Mahatma Gandhi’s Raj Ghat memorial to because of the “security restrictions”.
The decision was announced this morning by Mr. Singh’s media advisor on Twitter. “The chief minister will now lead the dharna of the Punjab deputies in Jantar Mantar, where he will reach at 12:15 pm, after paying homage to the father of the nation (Mahatma Gandhi) at Raj Ghat,” tweeted Raveen Thukral.
A few hours later, Amarinder Singh confirmed that he was on his way to Delhi and that he “would first pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi ji to Raj Ghat”. We will highlight the problems of our farmers and seek the immediate restoration of freight trains to Punjab through the Center, he tweeted.
The railway ministry has suspended freight train services to Punjab, citing concerns about the safety of its “men and materials” over the protest of the “rail roko” farmers.
The suspension, however, came as farmers curtailed their protests after the state assembly passed three bills on October 20 to counter the Central Farm laws.
With freight train services affected, the Punjab now faces a severe shortage of essential goods, including coal for its power plants. Three of the state’s five private power plants have been closed and two power generation units are nearly running out of coal, forcing the state-owned utility PSPCL to impose power cuts in all categories from Tuesday evening.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had said earlier that the situation on the ground was grim.
The supply of urea-based fertilizer for Rabi or winter crops was also affected, which again irritated farmers. Punjab, which obtains urea by trains from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other states, now obtains it by trucks from Ambala and Dabwali, but this increases costs significantly transport.
Officials say the Punjab needs 14.50 lakh tonnes of urea for planting winter crops, but only around 75,000 tonnes are available in the state.
